Xenophobic anti-China rhetoric behind rising number of attacks on Asians in US

Although US President Joe Biden signed an executive action banning the use of rhetoric such as the “China virus” or the “kung flu” within the federal government, the rise of hate crimes against Asians in the United States has not been checked.

Many believe that is due to the xenophobia fostered by the previous president, who habitually used such terms when talking about the pandemic.

An 84-year-old Thai immigrant in San Francisco died last month after being shoved to the ground during his morning walk. An 89-year-old Chinese American woman was slapped and set on fire by two strangers in New York. A 61-year-old Filipino American was slashed in the face by a stranger on the New York subway with a box cutter. These are just some of the recent attacks on Asians in the US.

Although it might be difficult to determine the exact number of such hate crimes and instances of racial discrimination against Asians in the US, statistics from a number of local police forces, rights groups and institutes all point to the same conclusion: The surge in assaults and verbal abuse began with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country a year ago, when the previous US administration baselessly started using rhetoric blaming China for the spread of the novel coronavirus. It is unlikely to ebb without the state intervening.

Although it was part of the Trump administration’s scheme to pass the buck to others, it has created aftershocks that US society is still experiencing now, as by openly inciting ethnic hatred, the previous administration awakened a dormant volcano in US society where discrimination against people of Asian descent has never disappeared but only lurked at the bottom of some racists’ hearts.

No wonder late last year, the United Nations issued a report warning of “an alarming level” of racially motivated violence and other hate incidents against Asian Americans.

If the protests that swept the country after the brutal death of George Floyd on May 25 last year in Minneapolis exposed the long-term tensions between white and black Americans, the outcries of a number of rights groups calling for an end to the verbal, physical and mental abuse suffered by Asian Americans reveals the unfair treatment they have for a long time had to endure. Discrimination and antipathy toward those of Asian descent have become more evident with the previous president fanning the flames of xenophobia.

While more and more Asian Americans are setting up mutual assistance organizations and standing up to defend their rights, particularly when no signs have appeared showing the tensions are likely to ease in the foreseeable future, the US government, judicial authorities and law enforcement departments have no excuse to look on with folded arms. Doing so, they will simply prove themselves to be birds of the same feather as the Trump administration.

Until US society unites to battle the virus, the divisions and discrimination intentionally fostered by the Trump administration will continue to take their toll on innocent lives.